'As Good
As It Gets' is an intelligent, witty, brilliantly directed, absolutely
lovely and perfectly cast film. It stars Jack Nicolson, Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear as three
people with differing problems who between them manage to help each other
out. Nicholson's character Melvin is an obsessive compulsive who can't help
being rude to people, Helen Hunt is Carol who has a sickly son and Greg
Kinnear is Simon, an artist who loses his confidence, his apartment and hope.

The act
of looking after a neighbour's despised dog begins to turn around Melvin's
life, and his liking for waitress Carol also helps to awaken Melvin's human
side. Burdell is the dog owned by Simon and this helps bring the two
antagonistic neighbours together...over the course of time.

Between them all, as they
all support each other, there forms a close, tightly knit bond.

Excellent
performances by Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard and Buddy Ebsen in particular.

The Blues Brothers

Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi (as Elwood
and Jake) are outstanding in this amazing film. I wasn't so keen on it when
I first saw it back in 1982 and it took me a while to get around to watching
it again. When I did so I realised just how good it was: it's one of the
most anarchic films I've ever seen and the scale of it is vast. Great music,
great characters, and everything is BIG.

Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang

The
first film I ever saw at the cinema and it's still a very good film even though I've seen
it more times than most other films. Dick Van Dyke is an underrated actor in my opinion,
he is always likeable and can play a serious moment as expertly as he plays the buffoon,
or sing as well as he dances. He's one of those actors who effortlessly takes to what he
does.

The film is good fun
and is very well cast. I particularly like the song 'Hushabye Mountain' (although I found
it dull when a child). Dick Van Dyke also appears in another of my all-time favourite
movies, 'Mary Poppins'.

City
Lights

Charlie
Chaplin's masterpiece, with my all-time favourite movie moment. This is in the scene where
the (previously blind) woman touches the hands of the tramp and realises he was the kind
benefactor who helped her see again. An exquisite moment in movie history which has never
been rivalled or repeated. Breathtaking and wonderful, a film of intense pathos.

The Fisher King

Possibly
the only Terry Gilliam film I like. It's a beauty, Robin Williams is great
and the rest of the cast is well-placed. A modern-day, poetic, fairy tale

For
The Love Of Ada

Follow-on
from likeable1970's ITV series. An astonishingly underrated film which tells the simple
story of the wedding anniversary of an elderly couple (played by Irene Handl & Wilfrid
Pickles). A gentle ride in sentimentality and gentle humour make this an adorable film
with an adorable cast.

Get
Carter (Michael Caine version)

Very
well cast in all parts. John Osborne excells even with the few lines he has. Caine is
superb.

Giant

An
epic which must have partly inspired the original production team for "Dallas".
James Dean is excellent, while Hudson rocks.

The
Godfather

Forget
the sequels, this is the best. The most atmospheric gangster movie ever. A film that
encompasses menace.

Goldeneye

An
intelligently crafted Bond movie with characters that have depth. Clearly a lot of effort
went into this film and it shows. With the next film, 'Tomorrow Never Dies', the
production team went back to the lazy, unimaginative
this-is-a-successful-franchise-so-we-don't-have-to-try-too-hard scripts used in former
years.

The
Gold Rush

Charlie
Chaplin once again excels in a marvelous movie containing some wonderful acting, comic
moments and a realism rarely seen in the days of silent comedy (or now).

The
Great Escape

Very
good escapism, based on a true story. With added Americans.

The
Italian Job

A very
relaxing enjoyable romp with Michael Caine staging a unique robbery.

Jane
Eyre (Orson Welles version)

An
excellent romantic novel becomes an excellent movie with Welles in his best role.

The
Kid

An
excellent Charlie Chaplin film which has probably provided the best movie poster ever. A
very touching film about a tramp who takes care of an abandoned child and strives to keep
him out of the hands of the supposedly righteous authorities.

Laurel
& Hardy

Notable
films are: Way Out West, Babes In Toyland, Sons Of The Desert, Below Zero & The Music Box.

Lawrence
Of Arabia

David
Lean's magnificent account of the uniting of Arab tribes to overthrow the Turkish
occupation. Peter O'Toole gives the performance of his career, he is mesmerisingly
excellent in the role of Lawrence. Omar Sharif gives his greatest performance too,
and like Peter O'Toole's, that performance ranks amongst the best ever seen in the entire
history of cinema/film. The scale of the film is truly epic and truly deserves it's
highly respectful reputation.

The
Long Good Friday

A
British gangster movie that still stands tall with the best of them. Gritty, violent,
exciting.

Love
Actually

One of
those feel-good movies that has immense humour, charm and romance. An extremely likeable
set of characters make this an immense pleasure to watch. Excellent script, excellent
cast. Richard Curtis ('Blackadder', 'The Vicar Of Dibley', 'Four Weddings & A
Funeral', 'Notting Hill') excels himself with this one: the guy is a genius. The
soundtrack superbly complements a superb movie.

The
Lucky Star

A
jewish boy hiding from the Nazis imagines he's a sheriff with the Star of David as his
badge.

Monty
Python and the Holy Grail

Crazy,
eccentric, mad, funny, insane, and darn good.

M

Peter
Lorre as real-life murderer Peter Kurten in a chilling movie which is more psychological
than visual.

The
Magnificent Seven

Well
cast, well directed western.

Mary
Poppins

Watching/listening
to 'Feed The Birds' was the first time I remember being stunned by a movie. Beautiful.

A very charming movie with lots of fun and an
excellent set of characters. Julie Andrews simply *is* Mary Poppins and Dick Van Dyke
plays with gusto.

Melody

My
favourite film. It stars Mark Lester & Jack Wild (of "Oliver!" fame) and
Tracy Hyde as Melody. It's a lovely story of young love set in and around a school. The
supporting cast are extremely well chosen (both kids and adults): Roy Kinnear, although
cast in a small role as Melody's father, nevertheless provides his most endearing and
sensitive performance of his whole career. The whole film is superbly directed by Warris
Hussein, a very creditable director who adds many visual details in the background of the
movie. A very touching film that gives a nostalgic feel for younger days.

Mr Mom

Michael
Keaton in an underrated film about a man who is made unemployed and has to stay home.
Funny, clever, nice.

Natural
Born Killers

Stylised
anti-media epic which was portrayed in the media as exploiting violence. Something about
the film must have scared them.

Nicholas
and Alexandra

A
deeply affecting film portraying the last years of the Romanovs. The last twenty
minutes or so have a dreadful sense of foreboding evil and the ending itself remains one
of the most horrific and shocking of all time. The appalling decision to slaughter
Tsar Nicholas II and his family makes this an uncomfortable film to watch, but it also
makes it unmissable.

The lead
performances from Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman are flawless, absolutely perfect.
The casting is excellent throughout and with effective direction also this film is,
quite simply, magnificent. I raise my hat to everybody who was involved with it.

Oliver!

A
rousing, perfectly cast musical starring Mark Lester, Jack Wild, Ron Moody, Oliver Reed,
Shani Wallis and Harry Secombe. Not quite as atmospheric as the b/w film, but excellent
nonetheless. Ron Moody's Fagin is just as good as the Alec Guiness version from the
earlier film.

Oliver
Twist (Alec Guinness version)

Very
nearly as good as the book from which it came.

On Her
Majesty's Secret Service

Highly
underrated Bond movie sporting one of the very best soundtracks.

Pardon
Mon Affaire

Classic
French film that still makes me laugh.

Patton

George
C Scott thoroughly deserved the Oscar he won for his captivating performance as General
George Patton in this engaging film.

Pretty
Woman

Julia
Roberts, yummmmmmmmmm.

Psycho
(1960's version)

Still
creepy after 40 years.

The
Prince Of Central Park

Nice
story of kids who hide in Central Park.

Reservoir
Dogs

Great
script, great direction.

Schindler's
List

Horrifying.

Scarface
(Brian De Palma's version)

Seen
it many, many times. Superb.

The
Seven Samurai

Took
me a long time to get around to seeing this Japanese classic, but it was well worth
waiting for. The best western that isn't.

Silent
Running

Intelligent
sci-fi with a message. And three cute robots.

Somewhere
In Time

A
romantic story set across time.

The
Sound of Music

Warm-hearted
family film with an excellent cast, good songs and a happy ending. It's a film I never
gave enough credit to when I was younger.

Strictly
Ballroom

Wonderful
film full of memorable characters.

10
Rillington Place

Horrific
true-life tale of true human monster John Christie. Sublimely played by Richard
Attenborough, this is a very chilling portrait of a real serial killer. Although it is
often Anthony Hopkins, menacingly playing Hannibal Lecter, who gets all the popular
attention, I believe Attenborough's performance in this movie is utterly realistic,
compelling, mesmerising and worthy of greater attention. A masterpiece of direction,
acting and scripting, it is finally available on DVD. Buy it!

The
Terminator

Intelligent
crash-bang-wallop excitement.

Terminator
2: Judgment Day

An
action movie which never forgets to tell a good story first and foremost. It is
utterly brilliant and stands up immaculately many years after it was made.

Having the first two 'Terminator' movies on this page, I've
lost the will to fight temptation in saying what I think of the third one (Rise Of The
Machines) so here we go:

It's a film that does not make
sense and does not care to try and do so. If Judgment Day can't be stopped then nothing
makes sense about any of this film and the two that came before it.

T3 is a lazily produced film
encompassing a terrible script done on the very cheap ($180m spent on it? Where?). It
comes with a minuscule (and poorly acted) cast as well as flat 'action' scenes.

T2 is still the best action film of
all time as it never forgot that a detailed, imaginative, intelligent story (along with a
credible script, excellent direction and editing) was more important than the
action/effects. Indeed, both action and effects in T3 are very poor compared to T2.

Titanic

James
Cameron did a good job with this one, a fictitious love story set aboard the
non fictitious and 'unsinkable' Titanic. Any good documentary on the subject
conveys the absolute tragedy of the situation, this film conveys the tragedy
of lost love. My one criticism of the film relates to the CGI used: it
looked bad when I first saw it, it looks worse now. The CGI looks cartoon-ish
and I'd like to see it replaced with a new version. It is the existing
cartoon effects which diminish the impact of the disaster. On the major plus
side, I've seen the film a loada times and
'that' scene with Kate Winslet (as Rose) is right up there with the best of
'em. Good old Kate.

To Sir
With Love

Excellent
performances from Sidney Poitier et al make this school drama rise miles above the rest.

War of
the Worlds

1950's version. The
effects are still astounding 50 years later.

The
Warriors

A
gripping study of youth gang warfare.

What's Good For The Goose

Norman Wisdom's last starring cinematic
role (to date). This was a film I disliked a lot as a child because it was
so different to every other Norman Wisdom film made prior to it. As an older
person, I think it's brilliant, Norman is excellent as a middle-aged married
man entering a mid-life crisis, and Sally Geeson is simply adorable as
Nikki, the younger, lively woman to who he becomes attracted.

It's touching in places, sad in
others, and at times has shots of realism relating to what can only end up a
bittersweet, failed relationship. Magnificent. Norman took a perhaps brave
decision to make this film and it is often wrongly dismissed for being
different to the slaptstick Wisdom films. It is all the better for being
different and showed that Norman was capable of being more than the
typecast slapstick comedian people wanted him to remain.

Unfortunately only a cut version of the film is available to buy. The
releases represented by the covers below all have the same, irritating cut.

UK DVD Cover

More recent UK DVD Cover

US DVD Cover

UK VHS Tape Cover

Another UK VHS Tape Cover

The
Wicker Man

Often
classed as a horror film, this is one of the most beautiful and original films ever
made. Horrific ending aside, this is much more than a horror film, it's an immensely
intelligent film.

Christopher Lee is utterly convincing as Lord Summerisle in his greatest
role. Edward Woodward is also perfectly cast as Sergeant Howie. All the
characters in the film come across as perfectly natural and real and all serve a
purpose. This is not a film about horrific people but people who perform a horrific
act in the belief that it is for the good of the people. This is not good versus
evil, simply belief versus belief.

Paul Giovanni's mesmerising soundtrack
complements the quirky nature of the film and is one of the greatest to ever grace a film
.

Although the director's cut has visual
differences where scenes have been edited back in it, it is this version I recommend
seeing: the more common, cut version lacks a sense of rhyme or reason, it's more
disjointed.

This was a film treated badly for years by
it's own film company but was, in many ways, way ahead of it's time.